ikea musings...
Paul and I went down to Charlotte yesterday for his Biometrics appointment for his green card renewal. It's kind of a no-big-deal thing, but I think it's been weighing heavily on him as the last hurdle before his conditional green card becomes permanent. We know we're all legit and above board (read: ridiculously in love as much as ever and very solidly and happily married), but anything that our being together depends on is a little bit nerve-wracking. So having that all taken care of felt very liberating. We left the government office with much hand-dusting-off and a sense of a field opening up in front of us. So we celebrated by going to Ikea...

It seems a bit silly, but there in the midst of bins of light fixtures, cushions, and storage boxes, we spent three hours browsing and reveling in our life together and the promises it holds. We tried out every sofa and mattress (OK, so we were tired after our previous night of midnight Harry Potter, and any excuse to lay down was welcomed), discussing their merits and deciding which to hypothetically choose, mentally planned out a future kitchen, and almost bought a chandelier. I think we left there with a toilet brush, a casserole dish, coffee pots and some bread pans, but inside, we had put together a whole new step in our life.